OUR ALLOTMENT - Life on The Weald, April 2019
The weather has been mixed this month, which is not unusual for April, but this year there have been extremes. At the beginning of the month we had hailstorms.
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| 2 April - Tulips took a battering from the hailstones |
Following the hailstorms we had heavy showers, then frosty mornings. I had to scrape ice off the car windscreen on the morning of the Brighton Marathon on 14 April, but the following Easter weekend saw the temperature rise to 24˚C
Earlier in the month, as the temperature rose, I put some seedlings outside to harden off but this was a bit premature as the cold wind managed to kill some off and damage the others. I managed to save some and brought them back inside to recover before trying again. April has been a busy month, both for sowing at home and bed preparation on the allotment.
Carrots
I cannot resist what looks like a bargain and, whilst in
Spain last month, I bought a packet carrot seeds in Aldi for 99 cents.
The packet, labelled in Spanish and German contained 3 seed
strips, each 1.67m long of different varieties, Nantaise, Pariser
Markt and Lange rote stumpfe ohne Herz. I was
familiar with the Nantes variety but had to look up the others!
I grew Nantaise successfully last year in a container. They are a fast
grower which can mature in 12 weeks, so if sown in March can be pulled in May.
The Pariser Market produce smooth, round, bite-size carrots which
are fast to mature. They are suitable to be grown in containers and are said to
thrive even in clay soils. Lange rote stumpfe ohne Herz translates as "long red blunt
without heart" and they are said to produce a high yield and store well. We shall see!
Carrots do not do well in our soil which is heavy clay on chalk, so in previous years I have grown them in raised beds or
containers with finer soil. This year I mixed in a little horticultural sand with some compost in some old plastic recycling boxes which make good planters. One of the benefits of growing carrots in containers is that the plants are grown higher than
ground level and do not get infected by carrot fly as the females can only fly
a few inches above ground level.
Courgettes and squashes
I have sown courgettes, cucumbers and a variety of squashes indoors this month; Sunburst Patty Pan, Jaune de vert Patty Pan, Crown Prince Squash and Tromboncino. They need to be planted out in May or June for harvesting from July/August onwards.
Purple sprouting broccoli
We had our last pickings of broccoli this month and then cleared the remaining row, just before they went to seed, to make room for more potatoes. But having hervested the crop sown last year, it's time to sow for 2020.
Potatoes
At the beginning of the month I planted two rows of Second Earlies, Charlotte, and later, when the broccoli had been removed, a third row.
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| Charlotte potatoes 1 April |
The First Earlies, Duke of York, are looking good and the Second Earlies, Nicola, are just showing through. Despite a wet start to the month, the sudden rise in temperature in the second half of the month has necessitated some watering.
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| 3 April - Nicola |
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| 8 April - Duke of York |
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| 18 April - Duke of York |
We have the Duke of York First Earlies on one side of our plot and the Second Earlies on the other
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| Rows of Second earlies |
Leeks
We lifted the last of the leeks......
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| Last of the leeks 1 April |
....and dug over the area, ready for the beans and cucumbers.
Beans and Peas
The Broad Beans planted last November are in full flower and those planted early in the year are just coming into flower.
Some of the peas are doing well but others appear to have been attacked by birds. Several of the broad beans planted in March have been dug up just as they were showing through. I suspect mice or squirrels as the leaves have been left and there are holes where the seeds were planted.
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| 8 April - Broad Beans (left) & Peas (right) planted in March |
Some repairs were necessary to my frame for runner beans but I now have it in place.
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| 18 April - ready for the runner beans |
Courgettes and squashes
The area where the squashes will go had become overgrown this winter...
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| Before |
...and needed to be cleared.
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| during |
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| after |
Here are some of the bindweed roots we had to contend with.
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| bindweed |
Fruit
The redcurrants are in flower and we have bought a frame to keep off the birds, so hopefully we will enjoy the fruit this year.
The blueberries are just coming into flower. I have given them a liquid feed, suitable for azaleas and other lime-hating plants, and a top dressing of ericaceous compost. Netting them will be a priority once the fruit begins to set.
The blackcurrants are just coming into leaf but do appear to have suffered from being transplanted so we are not expecting a heavy crop this year. I have given them a feed of fish, bone and blood fertiliser and mulched the bushes and will prune them heavily once they have fruited.
The apple tree and plum trees are in full blossom. I have cut back some of the plum trees so that any fruit is in reach and am hoping that we won't be plagued this year with brown rot disease.
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| plum tree in blossom |
The gooseberries are just coming into flower and they too will need some netting. The raspberries are engulfed with couch grass and are sending out succkers which are coming up all over the place. We will remove as much of the grass as possible but I think this autumn/winter we will need to dig them up, clear the couch grass and replant or renew the canes.
Bed preparation and tidying up
We have seedlings of Cavolo Nero, Purple Kale and Kalettes hardening off at home and it has been a major task to clear the area where they will go. The site is at the back of the plot and was full of brambles, couch grass, comfrey (at least this makes good compost) and invasive tree roots.
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| Making a start on the brassica patch |
This was a task too much for me alone but I have had stirling assistance from Sylvi's son Luke. Whilst Luke and I did the digging and the rooting out of weeds, Sylvi has been riddling the great clumps we have dug up, removing the invasive roots and saving the soil. We we have gone down two spade spits deep but I suspect the bindweed lurks even deeper!
Over the Easter weekend, we had family help.. Luke, Sylvi and I carried on with the clearing whilst Nicole did a great job hand weeding the raised beds, Jerome fetched mulch in the wheelbarrow and Letty did some watering.
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| 21 April - weed free garlic |
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| 21 April weed free onions |
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| 21 April - weedfree peas and broad beans |
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| 21 April - March sown broad beans and peas |
Pondlife
The pond is covered in a dense layer of weed and surrounded by couch grass, brambles and dandelions but we have made a start clearing. There has been no sign of any frogs or toads this year but in removing the pondweed and the silt from the bottom of the pond, we spotted some newts - they weren't around long enough to identify them, but at least we know the pond is alive. Unfortunately, newts are rather fond of eating frog and toad tadpoles, which may explain why we haven't seen any frogs this year. I'm trying out some barley straw to re-oxygenate and clear the pond of algae but suspect the blanket pondweed will return. The water irises seem to be surviving though and should be in flower next month.
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| 21 April |
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| 21 April |
Carrots make an appearance
Just when I was beginning to give up on the carrots and think about sowing a new lot, they suddenly make an appearance.
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| 21 April - carrots emerge! |
Gooseberries
The gooseberry bushes are in full leaf and just beginning to flower. We have weeded as best we could and given them a mulch and a liquid feed.
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| 21 April - Gooseberry bush |
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| 21 April - Gooseberry bush |
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| 21 April - Gooseberry bush |
April is almost over
We missed working the last weekend of April on the plot as it coincided with the London Marathon so there was much to do in a hurry during that last full week. I had potted up the courgettes, kale and kalettes and cavolo nero and hardened them off in the garden at home and have now planted out some, hoping that the weather will stay reasonably good - we have had record Easter temperatures as high as 24˚C.
The warm weather has brought on the second early Nicola potatoes....
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| 21 April - Nicola potatoes |
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| 21 April - November sown broad beans |
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| 21 April - November sown broad beans |
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| 22 April Apple blossom |
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| 22 April Blueberries |
At the end of the month, I planted out a few courgettes and covered them with improvised cloches from plastic bottles,
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| First planting of courgettes |
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| Cucumber frame |
I also managed to plant out a few of the brassicas which had been sown indoors and been hardened off. I planted a few Kalettes, some Cavolo Nero, some purple kale and a few Brussels Sprouts.
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| 22 April brassicas planted out |
There is a lot to do to prepare for more planting in May. I have sown some runner beans indoors which are hardening off in the garden and also some borlotti beans and I have sown some more beetroot directly in the raised beds.
All in all, the two half-plots are looking well given that we took over one in October 2016 and the other in October 2017 when they were both completely overgrown wildernesses.
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| Plot 247a April 2019 |
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| Plot 247b April 2019 |
